Lan Xuezhao

Lan Xuezhao
EducationUniversity of Michigan
OccupationVenture capitalist
Known forFounding San Francisco–based venture capital firm Basis Set Ventures

Lan Xuezhao is an American entrepreneur and venture capitalist. She is best known for founding Basis Set Ventures, a San Francisco–based venture capital firm that was one of the earliest to focus on early-stage artificial intelligence and automation startups.[1] She has a research background with academic contributions on cognitive sciences. Her most cited work was published in the journal Science.[2]

Early life and education

Xuezhao earned a M.A. in Statistics (2008) and a Ph.D. in Psychology (2009) from the University of Michigan. Her doctoral research focused on quantitative cognitive science, and she has published findings in leading academic journals, including Science.[3]

Career

After completing her Ph.D., Xuezhao founded a startup developing brain-training games for children, which was later acquired. She subsequently worked at McKinsey & Company as an engagement manager.[4][5] In 2013, she joined Dropbox, leading the Corporate Development Strategy team and overseeing mergers and acquisitions strategy.[6]

In 2017, Xuezhao founded Basis Set Ventures (BSV), a venture capital firm that invests in AI and automation-focused startups.[7][8] She launched the firm with over a hundred million in funding, emphasizing a data-driven approach to venture investing.[9] BSV developed internal tools such as the AI system “Pascal” for sourcing potential startups and the HyperGrowth platform to connect portfolio companies with mentors.[10][11][12]

Under Xuezhao’s leadership, BSV expanded with subsequent funds of $165 million (2021), $185 million (2023) and $250 million (2026), bringing total assets under management to over $850 million.[13][14][15] The firm invests primarily in AI-driven enterprise software and infra-first consumer companies. Notable portfolio companies include Scale AI, Path Robotics, Workstream, Ergeon, Quince, Cusp[16] and Drata.[17]

Recognition

In 2024, Lan Xuezhao was named among the top “Seed 40” women early-stage investors.[18]

In academia, she serves on the advisory board of the University of Michigan School of Information, mentoring students and advising on AI and data science research.[19] In 2026, Lan was named to Business Insider's "Seed 40," a ranking of the best female early-stage VC investors selected via a proprietary "Moneyball for VC" AI model.[20]

References

  1. ↑ Chernova, Yuliya (2026-01-26). "Exclusive | Basis Set Ventures Bet on AI Before Other Firms. Now It Has Raised a $250 Million Fourth Fund". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2026-01-26.
  2. ↑ "Google Scholar". scholar.google.com. Retrieved 2025-09-11.
  3. ↑ "Venture Confidential | Ep. #21, Feat. Lan Xuezhao of Basis Set Ventures". Heavybit. 2018-09-21. Retrieved 2025-09-11.
  4. ↑ "Dr. Lan Xuezhao | Founder & Partner". www.basisset.com. Retrieved 2025-09-11.
  5. ↑ "Lan Xuezhao - Lan Xuezhao's Forbes Blog". Forbes. Retrieved 2025-09-11.
  6. ↑ Primack, Dan (2017-05-09). "Exclusive: Dropbox exec leaves to launch VC firm". Axios. Retrieved 2025-09-11.
  7. ↑ SaaStr, Team (2020-08-05). "Changing the Way We Work with Founding Partner Lan Xuezhao at Basis Set Ventures (Video + Transcript)". SaaStr. Retrieved 2025-09-11.
  8. ↑ Xuezhao, Lan (2016-10-26). "China's big Artificial Intelligence (AI) push". Asia Times. Retrieved 2025-09-11.
  9. ↑ Mannes, John (2017-08-31). "Basis Set Ventures gets real to get to the heart of AI startups". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2025-09-11.
  10. ↑ SaaStr, Team (2020-08-05). "Changing the Way We Work with Founding Partner Lan Xuezhao at Basis Set Ventures (Video + Transcript)". SaaStr. Retrieved 2025-09-11.
  11. ↑ Hodgkinson, Rob (2024-11-25). "Investing in AI: 10 VC strategies to watch". SignalRank Update. Retrieved 2025-09-11.
  12. ↑ Shieber, Jonathan (2021-04-22). "At Basis Set Ventures, merging venture capital and software development yields a $165 million new fund". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2025-09-11.
  13. ↑ Renbarger, Madeline. "Exclusive: Basis Set Raises $185 Million Third Fund, Doubling Down on AI & Automation". www.newcomer.co. Retrieved 2025-09-11.
  14. ↑ Chernova, Yuliya (2021-04-26). "Basis Set Ventures Gives Up the Office as It Raises $165 Million Fund". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2025-09-11.
  15. ↑ Chernova, Yuliya (2026-01-26). "Exclusive | Basis Set Ventures Bet on AI Before Other Firms. Now It Has Raised a $250 Million Fourth Fund". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2026-01-26.
  16. ↑ Butcher, Mike (2024-06-18). "CuspAI raises $30M to create a GenAI-driven search engine for new materials". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2026-01-26.
  17. ↑ "Basis Set Ventures - Portfolio, Partners, Reviews, News". Parsers VC. Retrieved 2025-09-11.
  18. ↑ Persaud, Vishal; Bergman, Ben; Hornstein, Julia; Rao, Leena; Russell, Melia; Stokes, Samantha; Torrence, Rebecca. "The Seed 40: The best women early-stage investors of 2025". Business Insider. Retrieved 2025-09-11.
  19. ↑ uomsi. "Two new members appointed to UMSI Advisory Board | umsi". www.si.umich.edu. Retrieved 2025-09-11.
  20. ↑ Rollet, Melia Russell, Leena Rao, Ben Bergman, Sydney Bradley, Tom Carter, Rosalie Chan, Shubhangi Goel, Robert Scammell, Geoff Weiss, Charles. "The Seed 40: The best women early-stage investors of 2026". Business Insider. Retrieved 2026-05-26.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
This page is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.